Novak through to last eight

It was Novak's first win in four matches against Hrbaty

Click here for Sunday's men's singles results from Melbourne

Jiri Novak beat unseeded Dominik Hrbaty in four sets to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

The Czech 26th seed won 6-4 6-2 5-7 6-2 in two hours 11 minutes to reach the last eight in his best performance in 23 Grand Slams.

His previous best also came at the Australian Open, reaching the third round in 1999.

Hrbaty had won the previous three meetings between the players, but Novak's powerful serve was the dominating factor this time.

Hrbaty was broken eight times as Novak raced through the first two sets, but the Slovakian rallied to win the third.

Novak then clinched the fourth set to set up a meeting with Austrian Stefan Koubek, who beat Chilean qualifier Fernando Gonzalez.

Unseeded Koubek won 7-5 6-1 6-7 (3/7) 6-2 to prevent Gonzalez from becoming the first qualifier to reach the last eight since Goran Ivanisevic in 1989.

Koubek came back from two sets down in both his first and second round matches.

"To make the quarter-finals is just unbelievable," he said.

"As soon as you start winning some matches you get confident and that's what's happening now with me," added the 25-year-old.

Thomas Johansson rallied from a set down to beat Romania's Adrian Voinea and set up an all Swedish quarter-final.

The 16th seed lost a close first set tiebreaker but picked up the pace to nail Voinea 6-7 (8/10) 6-2 6-0 6-4 in two hours 27 minutes.

He will now play unseeded compatriot Jonas Bjorkman who upset sixth seed Tim Henman of Britain in straight sets.

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Men's fourth round results (Sunday)

(26) J Novak (Cze) bt D Hrbaty (Svk) 6-4 6-2 5-7 6-2
S Koubek (Aut) bt F Gonzalez (Chi) 7-5 6-1 6-7 (3/7) 6-2
J Bjorkman (Swe) bt (6) T Henman (GB) 6-2 7-6 (8/6) 6-4
T Johannson (Swe) bt A Voinea (Rom) 6-7 (8/10) 6-2 6-0 6-4

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